Future work would experimentally demonstrate how variation of the temperature can be used positively to enhance the performance of graphene chips by gaining a greater control over electron transport.

A team of physicists from Europe and South Africa showed that electrons moving randomly in graphene can mimic the dynamics of particles such as cosmic rays, despite travelling at a fraction of their speed, in a paper about to be published in EPJ B.Andrey Pototsky and colleagues made use of their knowledge of graphene, which is made of a carbon layer, one atom thick, and packed in a honeycomb lattice pattern.

In such material the interaction of electrons with atoms changes the effective mass of the electrons.

As a result, the energy of electrons in graphene becomes similar to the photon energy. Therefore, electrons in graphene can be regarded as behaving like cosmic rays, which belong to a family known as ultra-relativistic particles, even though their actual velocity is one hundred times lower than the speed of light.

The authors employed the classical equations used to describe random motion-so-called Brownian motion-to study the dynamics of electrons within the confines of their graphene mini-laboratory.

They considered different graphene chip geometries and subjected them to changing conditions that affect the way these electrons diffuse through the material, such as temperature and electric field strength.

Going one step further, the authors were able to rectify electron fluctuations and to control the electron motion itself, from an unusual chaotic type of motion to a periodic movement, by varying the electric field.

Future work would experimentally demonstrate how variation of the temperature can be used positively to enhance the performance of graphene chips by gaining a greater control over electron transport. Such graphene mini-labs could also ultimately help us to understand the dynamics of matter and anti-matter in cosmic rays.

Scientists use molecular layers to study nanoscale heat transferTampa, FL (SPX) Oct 29, 2012
Scientific research has provided us with a fundamental understanding of how light (via photons) and electricity (via electrons) move within and between materials at the micrometer or nanometer levels, making possible a wide variety of miniature devices such as transistors, optical sensors and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). However, man's knowledge of micro- and nanoscale heat flow is rud ... read more

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency.
All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement